Reviews

Sea Change was an appropriate title for Beck’s acclaimed 2002 record, in more ways than one. While the lyrics marked a dark, serious, and plainspoken change in direction for the songwriter, Sea Change’s powerful bluesy and symphonic folk sound stood out noticeably from any of his previous releases. After twelve years and three additional albums, he’s released Morning Phase – a follow up that was well worth the wait.

Musically, any listener familiar with Sea Change will have no problem instantly recognizing Morning Phase’s place …

Music, at its most basic level, is art. Art that exists to be seen, to be experienced, to be felt. The best music – regardless of the genre – is that which makes you feel something: happiness, melancholy, laughter, tears – anything and everything on the emotional spectrum. While A Great Big World’s latest tour, with support from Jukebox the Ghost and Greg Holden, doesn’t have a name per se, to call it – with apologies to Kris Kristofferson – the Once More With Feeling …

Shortly after 8pm last Friday evening, Twin Forks took the stage at Irving Plaza to a packed – and very energetic – crowd. Just a few short hours prior, the scene was very different however. We met up with front man Chris Carrabba (he’s also in a little band you may have heard of – Dashboard Confessional) before the show, where he was filled with a fidgety, nervous energy throughout our interview. As gracious and humble as ever, he spoke at length about wanting to …

Typefighter took the stage supported by some of their favorite bands at the Rock & Roll Hotel in DC on May 3rd to celebrate the official release of The End of Everything, an album 3 years in the making. For those who haven’t been to Rock & Roll Hotel, it’s DC’s best punk club – with low ceilings, cheap beers, and historically rocked out ambiance.

The lineup included Teen Mom, a DC 3-piece that was loud, loose, emotional, and appropriately named; Sunset Guns, the only …

Despite their name, New Empire is not ‘new’ and has been kicking around Australia in one formation or another since about 2005. Their third album In A Breath, and first on Tooth & Nail Records, shows elements of all the bands they’ve toured with; Relient K, Switchfoot, The Almost, and Owl City. The band has never seen success in the U.S., but with 5 Seconds of Summer leading a new charge, I have a feeling their success is about to change.

Touting themselves as “heard on Catfish”, and receiving comparisons to Of Monsters and Men, Big Little Lions have released an EP that successfully shows emotional range. Big Little Lions is composed of Helen Austin, a JUNO Award winning solo artist (think Canadian Grammy), and Paul Otten, a JUNO Award winning producer and creator of songs heard on nearly every popular TV show of the past few years. Austin took a chance to collaborate with Otten during a songwriting challenge, and a handful of songs later …

Mid-tempo gravelly pop punk is always right up my alley. So with that, I jumped at the chance to review the latest EP from Seagulls, The Royal We, just released on Autumn + Colour.

Within seconds of listening to The Royal We, it instantly became one of my new favorite releases of 2014. The first song on the record is called “The Implication”, which immediately made me think of It’s Always Sunny In Philadelphia. Sure enough, the song starts with a quote from Always Sunny. …

Check out our video album review of The Lovebirds’ latest, Breakup Shmakeup. The band – made up of duo, and real-life (former) couple, Lindsay White and Veronica May – have put together a truly mesmerizing collection of 10 songs that spans decades of musical history and inspiration.

Breakup Shmakeup – which is just the best album title, ever – comes out May 2nd, followed by a tour up and down the west coast. Don’t miss em! Or, if you’re anything like me, impatiently wait for …

San Francisco-based Underling, are a fresh new trio that could almost be considered somewhat of a death metal super-group, consisting of members of Fallujah, Arkaik, and Sidian. Atmospheric Black Metal has almost become a new trend, a hype-genre if you will, that most American bands attempting it cannot seem to quite get figured out properly.

Underling stands out from the rest of the would be’s with Breathe Deeply by showcasing not only a masterful penchant of composition, but also crafting a musical tone that puts …

DC quartet Typefighter have just released their raucous debut album, The End of Everything, out now on Huge Witch Records. Everything about this album instantly transports me right back to the early 2000s when I couldn’t throw a rock on my college campus without someone extolling the virtues of The Strokes – the newest, hippest band on the block. And yes, I might have been kind of in to a girl whose love of The Strokes was second to none – but no, not me. …